Just When You Thought You Were Safe

Those counters tracking down the last days of the Bush presidency have taken on new meaning for those of us in the DFW area. After months of speculation mayor Tom Leppert seems be confirming the notion that Bush may be coming home to Dallas upon his retirement next year.

The same articles that keep hinting at a Dallas residency also mention that Bush wants to further his legacy by building the Freedom Institute alongside his library at SMU.

According to google, the Freedom Institute is a resource center for families dealing with drug and alcohol dependency.

Whoops, my bad! Wrong one. It's the Center for Democracy, Nationalism and Market Economy Studies. No, wait, that appears to be Indonesia.

Okay, how 'bout the one "dedicated to teaching Individuals, Families, and Small Business owners how to find true freedom?" Hmmm, something tells me Bush isn't going to dedicate his golden years to teaching time management.

Well that leaves an "urban think tank that focuses on public policy issues that affect the quality of life for African Americans in particular and other minorities in general." Yeah, who are we kidding? Okay, I'm back to the first one.

Apparently, the Freedom Institute is a secret society, like Skull and Bones, only instead of Geronimo's skull, they'll use Milton Friedman's. Karen Kwiatkowski has some further insight into this mysterious organization.

Whatever it is, I'm sure the concept is as original as the name. I'm looking forward to deep, insightful policy papers telling us why the middle class needs to shoulder more of the tax burden and finance an endless war, so that Bush's profiteering patrons can fund the shills who want to convince us they have the perfect solution to all the problems Bush's incompetency has laid upon our country.

Do you think they'll add us to their blog roll?

Dallas Weighs Pros and Cons of Trinity Toll Road

Early voting for the November 6th election begins today. As the rest of us try to sift through the sixteen constitutional amendments up for statewide vote, Dallas County is weighing a highly contentious vote on whether to proceed with plans to build a tollway inside the Trinity River Corridor Project.

For those Dallasites still trying to make up their mind, today's Dallas Morning News has an archive of articles and opinion pieces, as well as an interactive map and video of the controversial project.

The toll road issue isn't black and white from a partisan perspective. Although Republicans, including Mayor Tom Leppert and City Councilman Ron Natinsky, are front and center in the "Vote No" campaign to defeat the ballot initiative and continue with the toll road, prominent Democrats have supported the project as well. Mayor Laura Miller supported a revised version of the plan. And Senator Royce West (D-Dallas) wrote an editorial for today's DMN supporting the tollway project, and asking voters to defeat the proposal.

Simply put, voting no on Proposition 1 means moving Dallas and the entire Dallas County region forward.

Spearheading support for the "Trinity Vote" side, which wants to see the toll road removed from the park plan, is Dallas City Councilwoman Angela Hunt. Former Democratic mayoral candidate Sam Coats campaigned on support for the referendum.

As grassroots efforts go, the referendum drive was historic. The petition to get the measure on the ballot was signed by 52,000 voters last spring. As Dallas Observer's Jim Schutze notes:

If the anti-toll road forces win on November 6, their victory will constitute the single biggest electoral victory of a grassroots coalition—and the single most devastating defeat of the old downtown power elite—that I have seen in my 30 years covering Dallas politics.

leppert, oakley face off again in june election

Eleven candidates sought to replace Laura Miller as Mayor of Dallas, and now only two remain: Tom Leppert and Councilman Ed Oakley.

This is an interesting (almost) end to an exhausting race. And according to the Dallas Morning News, the results don't come cheap.

This has been the most expensive mayoral race in Dallas history, with more candidates than anyone can remember.

The candidates together have spent more than $4.5 million by Election Day. That’s more than any previous campaign, and it doesn’t include the money runoff candidates will spend.

The runoff is June 16, so save the date. And expect NTL to make an endorsement in the race before that time.